How to parse. ...

APPENDIX I.

ON THE GROWTH OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Chronological Summary.
533 A.D. 450-547. The English language was brought
into Britain. It adopted a very few Celtic terms,
and one or two Roman local names.
A.D. 596. Christianity was introduced, and with
it several Latin ecclesiastical terms.
A.D. 878. Cession of Northumbria, East Anglia,
&c., to the Danes, and -
534 A.D. 1017-'42. A Danish dynasty reigns in
England. Hence the introduction of several Scandinavian terms and a general unsettling of Inflections in the Northern Dialect.1 Hence (in part at
least) -
A.D. 1100. The " Period of Confusion " begins,
first affecting the orthography of Inflections, and
afterwards dispensing with the Inflections.
t It has been asserted that, even in parts of the North where no
traces of Danish influence can be suspected, the inflections were
becoming unsettled. But there is difficulty in proving the absence
of Danish influence.